Friday, November 12, 2010

Obama Administration Seeks Internet Privacy Protections, New Policy Office - WSJ.com

Hopefully the Obama administration will constructively lead in this context; then we could all change our identities one last time and move on…

The Obama administration is preparing a stepped-up approach to policing Internet privacy that calls for new laws and the creation of a new position to oversee the effort, according to people familiar with the situation.

[…]

The central issue in writing federal privacy legislation is whether the Internet industry's efforts to police its own behavior has been effective enough. Proponents of legislation argue the industry is a Wild West where consumer data are gathered and sold without restrictions. Opponents of legislation say the industry is committed to providing tools to give consumers better insight into and control over data about themselves.

Commerce's draft report doesn't recommend specific legislation, but does indicate that self-regulation isn't robust enough, these people said. The administration would seek to guide the legislative debate through its new privacy office.

Obama Administration Seeks Internet Privacy Protections, New Policy Office - WSJ.com

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